Mont-Saint-Michel from space

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France's Mont-Saint-Michel island and commune as seen from the Pléiades satellite. (via Nat Geo)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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http://dailygrail.com/ Red Pill Junkie

Mont-Saint-Michel my hairy Hobbit foot! That’s Minas Tirith.

http://images.wikia.com/lotr/images/e/e4/Minas_Tirith.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mennonot/sets/ mennonot

It’s interesting to compare this image with a similar photo of Mont-Saint-Michel island on Wikipedia taken from a plane: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/MtStMichel_avion.jpg

The shadow from the sun looks to be the about the same angle, but the steeper perspective from the satellite gives the island other worldly/imperial cruiser feel
Finnagain

Why hasn’t that thing fallen over and sunk into the swamp yet?
- https://twitter.com/PhoetrySlam Cyran0
  
  Pretty sure that’s a tidal flat, and not a swamp.
  
  Big difference.
  
  Also, this is on my bucket list of places to see.
  - Finnagain
    
    It’s spelled, swamp, but it’s pronounced, tidal flat. Better? Now, why hasn’t it sunk into it? Is the whole thing built on a rock outcropping?
    
    It’s on my list, too! Beautiful!
    - https://twitter.com/PhoetrySlam Cyran0
      
      If this universal healthcare law really takes hold, I’ll probably take a hiatus or, barring that, quit.
      Being insured has been the only thing trumping traveling the world while I’m still young.
      
      Anyone that wants to come with, just say so, I’ll put you on a notification list!
      - http://mordicai.livejournal.com Mordicai
        
        YOU HATEFUL COMMUNIST.
        
        Nah, I’m playing, man, that is a pretty good bucket list spot, I gotta confess it didn’t even OCCUR to me that I could just…GO there.
      - https://twitter.com/PhoetrySlam Cyran0
        
        Okay, added a contact account to my profile.
        
        (I was kind of serious, guys.)
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/4GPNWHQFBUNJS3BQQIFGXK6RLU Bud
      
      “When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up ”
      - http://mordicai.livejournal.com Mordicai
        
        With great power comes great responsibility. Many Monty Python quoters forget that, but you chose your moment well, Bud.
  - millie fink
    
    Wikipedia says over 3 million people visit it each year. Sounds busy.
    
    I wonder if the gawking crowds disturb communal life there. I also wonder what the commune is like.
    - Schmorgluck
      
      It’s a bit special, because there are only 42 permanent residents (not accounting for the monastic order installed in the abbey). The commune’s entire economy is dedicated to tourism.
      - millie fink
        
        I see. Well, if they make the equivalent of even a buck from each one of them, they must be doing well financially. Now I wonder what “commune” means in that situation.
      - Schmorgluck
        
        An administrative division in France. Basically the lowest one. The Wikipedia article covers it pretty well
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communes_of_France
        
        It can cover a variety of realities, indeed, which leads to some oddities. There’s even one with just one inhabitant, and six without any (destroyed during WWI, kept more or less as memorials).
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        The commune’s entire economy is dedicated to tourism.
        
        And delicious, delicious salt-marsh-fed lamb.
    - https://twitter.com/PhoetrySlam Cyran0
      
      I had the good fortune to meet a former monk (not from Mont-Saint-Michel.).
      
      We talked at length about his former life, and the ways of the commune.
      
      A very interesting man, I wonder if he was such because of his time in the order, or because his is the personality type to be drawn to that life?
      - http://twitter.com/niczar Niczar
        
        It’s not the type of “commune” that’s talked about here.
- http://www.facebook.com/gregoire.tricoire Grégoire Tricoire
  
  Because it is buildt on top of a granite island.
  Also because nobody builds stuff as durable as fanatic french monks.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=530402930 Kent Snelson

GOD! What a shadow. I would love to see a time-lapse of a day from different seasons to watch the shadow and tides roll around.
Dr_Wadd

I can see my Templar from up here ;)
robdobbs

There’s a pretty good movie; Mindwalk, that takes place here. Nice chance for you bucket listers to get a feel for it before you go… so to speak.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100151/

It’s a little hard to find though. Torrents might be the only way in these post VHS days
millie fink

I remember seeing “Mindwalk.” All I remember about the story, such as it was, is that it consisted of several white people talking a lot to each other. About life, and such. (On the other hand, I do remember a lot from “My Dinner with Andre,” a much better conversation movie.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindwalk
Antinous / Moderator

Le Mont Saint-Michel is one of those rare places that look better in person than in the tourist brochures. When you’re driving along the coast and see it off in the distance, it’s breathtaking, especially at sunset when it’s gleaming gold in a golden haze.
- https://twitter.com/PhoetrySlam Cyran0
  
  I’d have to say you’re right, judging by the video I’ve seen.
  
  Also, I have a near-IR camera that’s just screaming to be turned on castles, monasteries and the like—especially so this place.
- Schmorgluck
  
  I really should visit it someday. It’s not that far from where I live.
- Ultan
  
  Yes, at sunset it’s spectacular, particularly in September, but even better are those rare times at night when it’s lit only by thousands of candles. I was lucky enough to see it so about a dozen years ago. It was like a millenium had been rescinded, all silence and salt breezes, vast old darknesses limned by guttering flames flickering over the gloaming stones as the fog began to roll in…
  - Finnagain
    
    You had me until the gloaming.
- Simon666
  
  Having been there (I’m Belgian, so still within reasonable driving distance) , I can only confirm. I liked the place a lot, very beautiful. There is not much though, within one day you can visit everything. Which was good for me.
Daneel

I haven’t been there, but as a good Cornishman (by heritage, at least) I have visited St Michael’s Mount. I assume the similarity in names is not a coincidence.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/St_Michael%27s_Mount.jpg
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Edward the Confessor gave St. Michael’s Mount to the Abbey of le Mont Saint-Michel.
http://storyspieler.net Roy Trumbull

Mont- San Michel and Chartes by Henry Adams.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4584
From the Catholic porcupine to flowing curves.
Heather Newell

I was just there 2 weeks ago. It is absolutely stunning. If you go, go overnight. Get there as the hoards of tourists are leaving, stay overnight, and leave in the morning before it gets too hectic. It’s so small, the tourist crowd overwhelms it.